In this episode of Connect and Convert, we have the pleasure of interviewing Jack Heald, a Wizard of Ads partner known for his iconic top hat and creative genius. Join us as we dive into Jack's fascinating journey from corporate misfit to talented jingle writer and uncover the secrets behind his unconventional success.

Key Takeaways:

• Embrace your unique personality and infuse it into your business to create genuine connections with your audience.
• Failure is a part of the journey; learn from it and keep pursuing your passions.
• Face-to-face interactions and building authentic relationships are irreplaceable, even in the digital age.
• Challenging conventional wisdom can lead to groundbreaking discoveries, as seen in Jack's podcast, "Stay Off My Operating Table."

Resources and Links:

• Jack Heald's Wizard of Ads Partner Profile: https://wizardofads.org/partner/jack-heald/
• "Stay Off My Operating Table" Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/stay-off-my-operating-table/id1587212660
• Dr. Philip Ovadia's Website: https://ovadiahearthealth.com/

Timestamps:

00:00:00 - Introduction and Jack's iconic top hat story

00:07:43 - Jack's unconventional career journey

00:14:16 - The importance of personality in business

00:17:02 - The impact of digitalization on human connections

00:21:18 - Jack's podcast, "Stay Off My Operating Table"

Connect with Jack Heald:

• Wizard of Ads Partner Profile: https://wizardofads.org/partner/jack-heald/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jackheald/
• X / Twitter: https://twitter.com/JackHeald5

Guest Bio:

Jack Heald is a Wizard of Ads partner, creative jingle writer, and co-host of the "Stay Off My Operating Table" podcast. With a background in software engineering and a passion for music, Jack has navigated an unconventional career path, ultimately finding his niche in the world of advertising. His unique perspective and infectious enthusiasm make him a sought-after expert in the field.

Hello again, and welcome to Connect and Convert, the Sales

Accelerator Podcast, where we offer insider secrets to small business owners

to grow their sales faster than ever.

Hey, today is a very special day.

I'm Dennis Collins.

Hey, Leah, are you there?

My partner in crime?

There she is.

Hey, Dennis, how you doing?

Leah Bumfrey back.

She keeps coming back.

I don't know.

Thank you for coming back.

Yeah, keep me away from a good thing, Dennis.

I couldn't do it without you.

Hey, you know something?

I think you're excited.

I know I am because we have today a very special guest.

This is a gentleman that you and I met not that long ago.

At least for me, it wasn't that long ago.

And when he made his entrance into the room we were in, there

was no missing this gentleman.

He wore an amazing top hat.

I mean, a real honest to God top hat.

And this man took all the air out of the room.

He did.

He wore it well, and he happens to be a lovely person.

He is also a wizard of ads partner, one of our partners,

one of our business partners.

So it is our pleasure.

And ever since I saw him walk in with that hat, I said, we gotta interview this guy.

We got to talk to him.

We got to know what's.

Under that hat.

What's under that?

So Let's welcome Why don't you welcome our guest leah?

Welcome him

jack.

Come on down You are the next interviewer on Connect and convert.

We're ready for you Let's

connect Absolutely.

Let's do a little connecting and converting jack keels.

How are you buddy?

I'm doing really good It's good to be with you guys

Well, thank you for I don't warn

you we have fun

Oh, well, in that case I'm not interested.

I'm here to have fun.

This is very serious business.

Let's sign off then.

Uh, This gentleman has more irons in the fire and that's what

we want to talk to him about.

And we're going to get around to some of the stuff that he's currently doing.

But before that, Jack, before that, I have got to know our listeners,

our viewers have got to know what's the story behind the hat?

I never heard the story.

Maybe you never told it.

It's a great story.

It's a great story.

I love this story.

Go, Jack!

Go!

I

was going to say, I thought I told Leah.

Um, so my wife and I,

um, I met my current wife just a little less than four years ago.

And when I finally, um, uh, wore her down and convinced her to marry me, uh,

we decided to have a A costume wedding.

And you know, we've both been married before.

We didn't need to do the normal thing.

Neither of us are normal anyway, but we decided to do a costume wedding.

And, um, I, I really like the old Jean Wilder.

Um, Willy Wonka, I think it's just, I think Jean Wilder.

In Willy Wonka, in that particular version of Willy Wonka, it is the

greatest cinematic performance in one of the worst movies of all time.

It's just, he's, he's absolutely extraordinary in a terrible show.

Um, but I loved his outfit and I spent way too much time with the remote

control going frame by frame, trying to review every aspect of his, his outfit.

And we, um, my, my wife is, um, In manufacturing, garment manufacturing.

And so she's got people who make things.

And, uh, we had somebody make the purple jacket and the cravat.

Have you ever worn a cravat?

I had an actual cravat, the vest, the vest was almost a perfect.

replica of the Willy Wonka vest.

I got a cane, but because I'm me, I had to do something a little different.

So I got a death's head on my cane and, uh, and I was looking for a top hat and,

um, I saw this hat and I, it's not exactly Willy Wonka, but I just, I loved it.

I said, Oh, that is my hat.

And, uh, because I had the, the skull on top of the cane, I chose

the, the skulls for the The hat band and yes, I wore it in the way I

just loved it so much that

and she said, yes, I know it on good authority.

Oh, well, she, she was dressed as a fairy.

She, she had on, uh, uh, she had on wings and this white.

Wedding dress, women know all the details.

I don't know this, but it had purple ribbon through it and she wore purple

leggings and sparkly gold tennis shoes.

And then I had a set of wings.

Um, it was, it was awesome.

So yeah, that's how I ended up with the.

What?

Okay.

I had not heard that story and now our, the world knows Jack, you've just told

the world a great story, but you are.

a great storyteller.

I've heard you in some meetings that we've attended together and I've talked

to you, uh, uh, after the meeting or before a meeting and you are a wonderful,

magnificent, uh, engaging storyteller.

Uh, so why don't you tell us the story about how you got to where you are today.

Give us a little bit of, um, background, maybe your origin story as to how Jack

got to this point that he's at right now.

Well, I always start this story by saying I was born

at an early age in a hospital so that I could be close to my mother.

Oh gosh.

I probably the, the, the key elements of this story are, I was, I apparently

came from the manufacturer equipped with an extraordinarily good musical ear.

I was playing the piano by the time playing the piano and picking

out my own, picking out music that I heard on the radio, uh,

by the time I was five years old.

And I, Uh, if you'd asked me as a, as a child, what am I going to do as a career?

I would have said music, um, roughly about the time that adolescents kicked in.

I fell in love with rock and roll radio.

And, um,

I don't know how much more has to be said about that rock and roll

radio, I mean, it's probably.

You know, it's the best thing in the world.

Um, so I, I imagined that, that I would, my, my music would be on

the rock and roll radio stations.

That's what I thought would happen.

It didn't quite turn out that way.

Um, I have failed my way to where I am today.

Uh, I don't know how many careers I've had.

I don't, I don't think of them as career.

Failed brilliantly, failed brilliantly.

I've, uh, I have my own software company.

Um, I ran big software implementation projects.

Um, I painted houses.

I drove an Uber.

I, uh, have been writing, uh, advertising copy for the last,

I don't know, 12 years, I guess.

Um, A friend of mine, one of my oldest friends in the world, um, is a novelist.

And, um, after my last corporate gig, I was, I was not cut out

to work in corporate America.

I tried it for 12 years and, uh, there was enough.

I just, I couldn't make it.

I, it made me miserable.

Um,

I don't think they'd let you wear the hat.

That's...

Yeah, well, that was part of the problem.

I think I'm just, in fact, literally true story.

I had a, uh, an annual review one time, and then I remember this clearly because

it was a year, the company was down.

In sales and I personally, I wasn't in sales, I was in project management,

but I was running a big, one of the big implementation projects and my

team was responsible for one quarter.

Of the company's profit.

And this was a company of, I don't know, several hundred people.

My team was responsible for one quarter of the company's profit.

You know, if we hadn't been doing that, 25 percent of the profit

would have been gone in a year that there was, that it was down.

And my annual review, I remember my boss said, um, I was too colorful.

Not

bad for a white guy.

Yeah, I mean, uh, I don't know if that's a good racial slur or a...

Said

I was just I was too colorful and really what he was

saying was this is a terrible fit.

That's really what he was saying.

Yes.

What a blessing that you got out of there and carried on to

where you can shine and are appreciated and have the The ability to, well,

I was going to say have wings, but that's, that's DeLawn's department.

That's DeLawn's job.

That's my wife's job.

Yeah.

Anyway, I, I, uh, I quit that job and, uh, talk, was talking to this buddy

who's a novelist, Brad Whittington.

And I said, I know enough about the publishing industry to know your books

aren't selling enough for you to be, uh, supporting yourself in the manner

to which you are clearly accustomed.

What are you doing?

And he said, Oh, well, my, my, my day job is I write copy.

He said, you could do this.

I said, Oh, so I'm going to send you a book.

You sent me a book called the well fed writer.

And, uh, I don't know, I guess I, it was just the right thing at the right time.

And I took the bit in my teeth and started running with it.

And one thing led to another.

I just.

I, I, I don't know how to explain it.

I literally just have kind of failed my way to where I am today.

Um, but I'm having a ball, you know, I love the reason I said I fell in love

with radio is because I never lost that love and I love writing radio ads.

I have so much fun with it and I'm getting to write jingles.

So my jingles are also on the radio now.

It's just, uh, It's not rock and roll, but you know.

But they're on the rock station, so you, you

didn't, you didn't miss that.

You didn't miss that.

But it's your music.

It's your music.

That's what's important.

Yeah, that's, that's remarkably gratifying to know that.

I'm getting to do that.

Not in a way I ever imagined, but I'm just, it's a blast.

It's so much fun.

Client will ask me, Hey, I need a jingle.

And I find out about the, you know, I find out about them and what's,

what's, what's the vibe of the company.

What's the, the, the, the way you like to present yourself and how

are we going to make this happen?

And then working inside the constraints of a, of a radio commercial in terms of time.

I love the constraints of radio.

It's just, it really drives creativity.

And I know you guys understand that, so.

It's those golden handcuffs.

Cause you have to accomplish something in a certain amount of time in a

certain way, and it has to achieve.

Yeah, either branding or something more immediate when it comes to events.

But that's what you're talking about is wizard of ads way of doing it, getting

to know the company and trying to make that difference in their company.

So,

so.

Honest to God, I've got so many things.

Yeah.

We're going to have to be more focused because.

Okay.

Well, let me ask you a question about, uh, and I don't want you to reveal

the secret sauce, but just in general, for, for folks who are listening, who.

Who struggle writing copy, who struggle writing, uh, content for their website,

who struggle with radio or TV spots.

What is a jack tip again?

Don't give away the farm, but tell us a tip when you, if I were your client,

uh, how would you, uh, what, what would you say to me or what would you want

from me to write a killer radio spot?

You got to tell me stories about yourself.

It has nothing to do with business.

Tell me stories about yourself.

What's something stupid you did that you look back on and you

think, Oh God, I can't believe I did that, but I learned so much.

What's something awesome that happened to you that you didn't realize how

awesome it was going to be at the time.

What was the darkest day in your life and how did you recover from it?

What was one of the most extraordinary days of your life and how has it

affected the rest of your, your life?

And, and you know, when you find out, When you hear those stories,

um, you can begin to understand what these people bring to their business.

And that's what I wanna serve up on a, a silver platter to their audience.

And, uh,

so it's, it's, it's about them most,

it's, it's astonishing to me.

Yeah, it's astonishing to me how many people

want to take the personality out of their business.

They want to be, they literally just want to be a commodity and yet

want people to want the audience to treat them like a luxury good.

No, the only luxury in most businesses is the personality they deliver.

It's the personality, the culture that, that, that is formed from the personality.

And oh, well, I'm going to rant and rave here, but yeah.

You know, it's, it's so interesting what you're saying,

Jack, because it's so much less about the industries that you're helping.

So if someone's a painter, it's less about what kind of paint do they use

and what's the warranty and how long is it going to stick on the wall.

It's about the actual guy who's doing the painting.

It's his actual team.

It's why does he love working on houses?

Why does he love working on the higher ceilings?

What inspired him?

Did he help his dad?

Did he make a difference painting with his mom in the kitchen?

Did he think he was going to be an artist?

So what you're saying is getting down deep, is helping

to form those connections.

And one thing I know about you, Jack, you are about connections.

That's struck me the very first time I met you.

And that was at wizard Academy.

And I was able to meet you and you remembered connections with mutual

people that, that, uh, I knew you knew.

And it was like, boom.

This is a real person who is interested in me.

And if I was a business owner, you were helping, I know you would,

that same interest would translate.

Well, you know, I w I was literally today, I was just

writing this, um, digitalization

depersonalizes everything.

And with the advent of artificial intelligence, which is very good

at mimicking the digital version of anything, whether it's copy

or images or audio or, or, or.

Videos.

Um, we've got machines now that that in the digital realm

can replicate human output.

What they cannot replicate is The reality of knowing another person

of the face to face, skin to skin, eye to eye, voice to voice, um,

ineffable experience of someone else's soul that comes in these

person to person interactions.

And those are the things that make a business extraordinary.

Um,

And that's where the, your color comes in.

I mean, that was one said to you as a negative, but that's a powerful thing

to be able to pull the color out of someone because not all businesses are

exciting, but all people are exciting.

So if you have that ability and I've heard some of your ads Jack

and they are just, they just kick because they get you involved.

They get you wishing that you could hire this person or at least meet them.

Um, Mrs.

Bumphrey, you wrote the funniest series of ads I have ever heard.

So, um,

I realize this sounds like I'm backstretching, but, oh my God.

Dennis, this new one she will love is.

We have a nerd alert.

I've never heard them.

Leah, you're holding out on me.

I know you're a great writer.

I'm, I am.

Oh, well, we'll have, this will be a, a bottle of wine episode.

Yeah.

I wanna make sure you laugh.

'cause now Jack has, has set me up.

Let's, so if you don't find them funny,

I assure you, I assure you, you'll howl when you hear these.

Okay.

Hear

these episodes.

I can't.

You have so

good.

You have done a great vamp job for Leah.

I know this because I'm the producer on these ads.

Yeah.

Speaking of producing.

I want to, I want to change lanes a little bit here.

I know that podcasting is something that you're very,

very interested in and good at.

And I know of two podcasts that you're affiliated with one big daddy and

another one on an occasion, but the big daddy is very interesting to me.

You've mentioned this to me in person a couple of times, and we just, I

just refreshed my memory earlier.

Stay off my operating table.

Stay off my operating table.

I would love to hear the backstory about that.

That title is just provoking.

Obviously very provoked, very provocative.

Um,

I'm the co host of the show.

The host is a cardiac surgeon by the name of Dr.

Philip Ovadia.

He and I were both in the same men's group together.

Um, that's how he and I got connected.

His story was, he was morbidly obese his whole life.

If you could imagine a morbidly obese heart surgeon, but he was

by his own, by his own mission.

And, uh, He had, he lost a patient, uh, I think he said a 39 year old mother

of two, uh, on the operating table through a health condition that was

entirely preventable and it, it, it.

Uh, it was a pivotal moment in his life and he decided if he didn't

do something about his health, he'd end up being on some cardiac

surgeon's operating table someday.

And he finally cracked the code on, on why he was obese and how to get it fixed.

And he is on a mission, uh, because he discovered that Uh, as a, as a medical

doctor, as an MD, uh, a lot of what he was told was wrong and he wasn't told

a whole lot of things that he should have been told about metabolism and

health and the role of, of how various kinds of carbohydrates affect the body.

Um, so he asked, he, he wrote a book called stay off my operating

table and decided he needed to support that with a podcast.

Asked me if I would produce it for him and I was producing another

set of podcasts at the time.

Um, that aren't an entirely different industry.

Um, and I said, sure, because I've been doing pod, I'd been producing

podcasts for quite some time.

Um, and I, I didn't think I'd be on air with Phil, but it turned out that

it was a better, it was better with.

With two of us, because he's super medical sciency, and I'm pretty good

at realizing that you're saying stuff that most people don't understand.

Let's, let's bring it down to speak English.

Sounds a little bit like our relationship, Dennis.

Uh

oh.

So yeah, that was, we just, they caught us recorded episode.

We just recorded episode one, 150.

This, uh, this last year.

Bravo!

Bravo

That's, that's got a,

depending on, on which.

Which, depending on how you measure it, we're, we're in the top one and a

half percent of podcasts in the world.

So it's, it's pretty fun.

It's pretty cool.

And I just, every

week I get to talk to these really smart.

Yeah.

Not only that, I mean, you're, you're obviously, uh, doing some great work, uh,

uncovering things that, you know, Some people that people need to know that they

don't know that's that's outstanding I got a tune that in for sure stay off.

Well, this is where I get to be.

This is where I get to be the mean one you guys because we're gonna have

to wait till the next episode to talk about other podcasts and these are

the ones that I'm really excited about because well, somebody that both of you

gentlemen know was once a guest on it.

So we're going to have to leave that till next time though.

There we go.

We have to have a cliffhanger, right?

There's a nut, there are a number of other things that we want to talk about,

Jack, but As you know, time is flying.

We need to sign off this time.

Uh, thank you.

A million thank yous for taking time.

Uh, what an interesting story.

What an interesting guy you are.

We already knew that, but now the world knows.

The world knows, and they know the story.

When you come back, you gotta bring the hat.

You gotta bring the hat.

Yeah, the hat.

The hat goes with me wherever I go.

I know.

I saw you a couple times without it, and honest to God, I said, who is that guy?

He said, oh my God, that's Jack!

Trademark!

That'll do it for this episode of Connect and Convert.

Jack Kield has been our guest.

What a fascinating story he has to tell.

And hopefully we'll do this again and get more.

In the meantime, Stay tuned every week.

Connect and Convert.

We'll be back at you next week with another episode of Connect and Convert.

Bye for now.